Student Debt’s Disproportionate Impact on Women’s Financial Wellness

Kate Winget, senior vice president, Gradifi, discusses the data that can empower employers to support solutions for women’s financial wellness.

We can have a profound influence on the overall financial wellness of our female employees, especially when we are open-minded in exploring the intersection of women’s financial wellness with student loan debt.

Understanding the ramifications student debt has in women’s lives can help plan sponsors make life-changing strides in their existing benefits and diversity programs. There is so much potential for human resources leaders to make a difference when we work together with a more holistic understanding of the challenges women face.

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The landscape of benefits administration takes on a whole new shape as we start to think of women’s student loan debt and pay equity in context. Let’s consider the big picture of the disproportionate effect of student loan debt on women’s financial wellness:

  • Women owe much more student loan debt than men. Student debt in the U.S. has ballooned to $1.6 trillion, and the American Association of University Women shows that women carry nearly two-thirds of the balance—even though they represent just 56% of college students. Women of color are even more burdened: For example, black women owe on average $11,000 more than white men and $8,000 more than white women, according to Newsweek.
  • Pay gaps make it harder for women to repay student loans. Even though they hold the majority of degrees and jobs in the U.S., Payscale found that women in 2019 earned an average of 79 cents to each dollar earned by men. And the pay gap widens for minorities, as suggested by Equal Pay Day data. Pay gaps may be partly why women typically take two years longer than men to repay their student loans, according to U.S. News.
  • College degrees earn women less of a pay boost than their male colleagues. Comparing the same jobs, in the same regions, with the same education levels, Payscale found there is still a 2% gender pay gap—with many minority women making 4% less than white women. The gap widens in senior roles and for women with advanced degrees—especially MBAs. Moving up the ladder toward higher pay also takes longer for women, despite earning more than half of higher degrees.
  • Caregiving disproportionately affects women’s career advancement and wages. The charity Oxfam found that women are more likely to take time off work for caregiving, which contributes to gender and economic inequalities. Mothers also face a “mommy penalty” in their wages, while fathers typically enjoy a pay boost. Also, according to the Center for American Progress, women are 40% more likely than men to report feeling a negative career impact because of childcare issues.

All these factors converge to create a complicated financial picture. Women carry more student debt, earn less pay, enjoy fewer opportunities for professional advancement and feel more stress from personal finances and caregiving responsibilities.

But there is so much potential for plan sponsors to provide tangible, measurable support. We can take on the challenge to shape and share solutions for women’s financial wellness, and it starts with a few simple actions we can take today:

  • Introduce the topic of gender and student loans in your benefits planning conversations. E*TRADE found in our Q1 2020 Streetwise Report that women are more likely to say student loan refinancing and education reimbursements are the most important employment benefits. Is it time to consider how these benefits can help fill any gaps in service or support for your women participants?
  • Support the Employer Participation in Repayment Act (EPRA). The EPRA is proposed legislation that would remove tax barriers for employers and employees participating in student loan repayment benefits, much like a 401(k): Employers could make tax-free yearly contributions of up to $5,250 per employee for existing student debt, without increasing employee gross taxable income. Ask your company to join a diverse set of business, labor and education allies to endorse this bipartisan bill.
  • Address gender gaps in your financial wellness benefits programs. Women report greater difficulty in meeting basic living expenses, including emergency funds, retirement, child care, housing and major purchases, according to Newsweek. You may already have benefits that can help support women’s unique challenges, but are participants engaged? Are they making the most of your education initiatives? Are you providing targeted financial advice?
  • Discuss transparency in equity compensation and student loan benefits. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) argues that the gender pay gap in most companies evaporates with wage transparency policies. Is there an opportunity to apply this principle to your equity compensation and student loan benefit programs? What would that look like?

With a clear vision for how our decisions as leaders in benefits administration can ripple out, shaking up profound solutions for women’s complex financial wellness needs, we are empowered and uniquely positioned to make a difference. For me, these eye-opening realities are catalysts for a more effective, mission-driven strategy. Knowledge is power when plan sponsors think critically and solve actively for the full context of women’s financial wellness needs.

As senior vice president of Gradifi, Kate Winget oversees the E*TRADE suite of financial wellness solutions including employer-sponsored student loan paydown and 529 contribution solutions, access to student loan refinance options, loan counseling, educational resources and digital financial planning tools.

This feature is to provide general information only, does not constitute legal or tax advice, and cannot be used or substituted for legal or tax advice. Any opinions of the author do not necessarily reflect the stance of Institutional Shareholder Services or its affiliates.

Coronavirus Creates Perfect Storm for DB Plan Funded Status Drop in February

What happened to interest rates is just as important as what happened to equity markets, and DB plan sponsors should implement portfolios that manage both.

Pension funding ratios decreased throughout the month of February, with changes primarily attributed to declining Treasury yields and poor equity performance. Legal & General Investment Management America (LGIMA) estimates that the average plan’s funding ratio decreased 5.3% to 74.4% throughout the month.

The firm notes that the coronavirus outbreak became the primary focus for equity markets in February. But it points out that the outbreak continued to dominate the rates narrative as well, as fears of a full blown pandemic further slowed domestic and global growth. LGIMA’s calculations indicate the discount rate’s Treasury component fell by 36 basis points while the credit component widened 19 basis points, resulting in a net decrease of 16 basis points. Overall, liabilities for the average plan increased approximately 2.7%, while plan assets with a traditional “60/40” asset allocation decreased by approximately 4.1%.

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Sources stressed the importance of risk management investment strategies, but also diversification of equities. River and Mercantile Solutions says in its Monthly Retirement Update that plans with the greatest exposure to equities generally saw the largest funded status declines because of the equity market drops at the end of the month. Still, allocations which are largely liability matched saw see a drop in funded status for the month based on the magnitude of the equity market movements.

“So far in March, those declines have continued with the 10-Year Treasury falling below 1% for the first time and equity markets substantially off. While spreads have widened, pension discount rates are still down from the beginning of the month. Plan sponsors with significant liability matching strategies will weather this storm, however plans with any equity exposure will feel the effects. If the coronavirus is comfortably contained in the near future, markets will most likely rebound quickly; if the containment is prolonged, we will almost definitely see continued strain and volatility. This type of economic environment is exactly why plan sponsors need to have a comprehensive funded status risk management strategy that encompasses not only interest rates, but equity exposure as well,” says Michael Clark, managing director at River and Mercantile.

Brian Donohue, partner at October Three Consulting, says, “Falling stock markets grab the headlines, but unprecedented low interest rates are at least as significant a story. For pension sponsors, the combination is a real gut check.” Both model plans the firm tracks lost ground. Plan A lost more than 5%, ending the month almost 10% lower than at the end of 2019, while Plan B slipped 2% and is now down 3% for the year. Plan A is a traditional plan (duration 12 at 5.5%) with a 60/40 asset allocation, while Plan B is a largely retired plan (duration 9 at 5.5%) with a 20/80 allocation with a greater emphasis on corporate and long-duration bonds.

According to Northern Trust Asset Management (NTAM), the average funded ratio of corporate pension plans declined sharply in February from 85.5% to 81.3%. Global equity market returns were down approximately 8.1% during the month, it says. Average discount rate decreased from 2.48% to 2.3% during the month, leading to higher liabilities.

Jessica Hart, head of the OCIO Retirement Assets Practice at Northern Trust Asset Management, notes, “Diversifying assets have provided some downside protection from the broad equity decline. In particular, low volatility strategies, infrastructure and high yield bonds have performed better than a global equity portfolio.”

The aggregate funded ratio for U.S. corporate defined benefit (DB) plans sponsored by S&P 500 companies decreased by 3.9 percentage points in February to end the month at 81.7%, according to Wilshire Consulting. The aggregate funded ratio is estimated to have decreased by 6.9 and 8.8 percentage points year-to-date and over the trailing 12 months, respectively, and now stands at its lowest levels since December 2016.

Ned McGuire, managing director and a member of the Investment Management & Research Group of Wilshire Consulting, says, “February marks the second consecutive monthly funded ratio decrease and the largest consecutive monthly decline in funding levels to begin a year since Wilshire began tracking in January 2013.”

The estimated aggregate funding level of defined benefit (DB) plans sponsored by S&P 1500 companies decreased by 5% in February to 79%, according to Mercer. As of February 29, the estimated aggregate deficit was $527 billion, an increase of $125 billion from the $402 billion measured at the end of January.

The S&P 500 index decreased 8.41% and the MSCI EAFE index decreased 9.23% in February. Typical discount rates for pension plans as measured by the Mercer Yield Curve decreased from 2.85% to 2.65%.

“Pension funded status has decreased by 9% since the beginning of the year as equity markets took a dive in late February and interest rates hit yet another all-time low,” says Matt McDaniel, a partner in Mercer’s Wealth business. “Concerns around the global economy loom with the coronavirus spreading around the world, illustrating just how quickly markets can react. Plan sponsors should continue to review their investment policies and consider adopting de-risking strategies as appropriate to ensure gains are locked-in when funded status improves in order to provide protection during economic downturns.”

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